The desegregation of the University of Mississippi
The desegregation of the University of Mississippi In this essay I will talk about the desegregation of University of Mississippi also called Ole Miss. The essay will include how the desegregation happened, who made it happen and what affect it had on the University’s future. The University of Mississippi is a big university which was founded in 1848. The universities in the South were affected by racial segregation. Black and white people were kept separated in schools, hotels, bars, and for an example they couldn’t drink form the same fountains1. The segregation of the university therefore meant no black people were enrolled at Ole Miss. The segregation has always been worse in the Southern states and especially Mississippi where a lot of terrible things happened; therefore this subject had a big influence on the university’s future. On September 30, 1962 the desegregation of Ole Miss started. An African-American man called James Meredith decided to enroll to the old university. This made a big chaos break out because the university back then only were for white people but the black young man decided to change that. 2 James Meredith started the whole desegregation in 1962 but already in 1961 he tried to enroll without luck. When he revealed his race, he was rejected. When he tried to enroll the year after, the governor Ross Barnett was blocking the office door so he couldn’t enroll. The governor was found guilty in civil contempt. He was ordered to start the desegregation or face an arrest and fine of $10.000 a day.3 Two days later, James Meredith was accepted at the university. He transferred from the all black Jackson College so the new “white” old university was a radical change for the young man. Even though the segregation was still there, he was still the outsider. A student from James Meredith’s year, who wasn’t racist wrote a book 50 years later where it says: “''Indifference in the face of injustice means you are a part of perpetuating that injustice'”'' ''4'. ''This shows us, that not all the students were racist but they just didn’t do anything to make it better. The Southern culture was hard to change, and James Meredith found out he couldn’t just change that. Therefore he still wanted a 24 hours protection for his entire time at the university.5. After some hard years at the university, Meredith graduated in 1963 with a degree in political science. 6 The University was finally getting desegregated, and James Meredith was the one who made the big difference. He didn’t only start the desegregation but in 1966 he began a lone civil rights march in attempt to make all African-American voters registered. He didn’t finish the march because a bullet hurt him. Other civil right leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokley Carmichael finished the march for him. 7 Even though James Meredith had a hard time at Ole Miss, one of the biggest universities in the United States of America with 18.224 students8, it has improved a lot and the number of black people enrolled is of course bigger now. The distribution is like this: 75% white students, 16% black students, 2% Hispanic students and 1% Asian students9. It is now more acceptable to be black at this university and there is many black people compared to Asians and Hispanics. The university is now for everyone and not just the white students. The desegregation of Ole Miss was a big change back then, because of the South’s major segregation problems. The desegregation was started because of a brave young man who wanted the same rights as the white people. Even though many people saw him as a black man who wasn’t suppose to have the same rights as the white people who ruled the South, he was a powerful man and a brave freedom fighter. He fought for his rights and got help from even bigger freedom fighters as Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokley Carmichael. 50 years later, James Meredith is still popular and his anniversary was celebrated last year. This whole case shows us, that if you are willing to fight for your rights, most things can come true even if you face big challenges in your path. Written by Nikoline Sources: ---- 1 http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/fsa.8a26761/ 2 http://www.npr.org/2012/09/28/161953187/the-fight-to-desegregate-ole-miss-50-years-later 3 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/riots-over-desegregation-of-ole-miss 4 http://www.npr.org/2012/09/28/161953187/the-fight-to-desegregate-ole-miss-50-years-later 5 http://www.npr.org/2012/09/28/161953187/the-fight-to-desegregate-ole-miss-50-years-later 6 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/riots-over-desegregation-of-ole-miss 7 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/riots-over-desegregation-of-ole-miss 8 http://colleges.findthebest.com/q/2265/22/How-many-students-go-to-University-of-Mississippi-Ole-Miss 9 http://colleges.findthebest.com/l/2265/University-of-Mississippi-Ole-Miss ----